1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to monitoring conveyances and/or their contents and, more specifically, to monitoring physical assets through a network of heterogeneous monitoring systems.
2. Background Art
Ever-increasing global trade underscores a modern global economy which depends on goods transported in a global supply chain. Generally, a global supply chain is a network of international suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and other entities that handle goods from their component parts to consumer consumption. For example, semiconductor testing equipment is exported from the United States to Taiwan, where semiconductors are processed and then sent to Malaysia for assembly into computers. Subsequently, the computers are shipped to warehouses in the United States, and ultimately, to consumer outlets for consumption.
However, heterogeneous monitoring systems along the global supply chain make end-to-end tracking difficult. These monitoring systems are often owned and operated by different non-cooperating entities. Additionally, conventional monitoring systems can run different types of software or different versions of the same software, use proprietary protocols, and the like, thereby making them unable to easily exchange necessary information. Due to such characteristics, a single monitoring system loses visibility in incompatible “blind spots.”
Moreover, a shipper and consignee have little or no control over conveyances and/or their contents en route through the global supply chain. Consequentially, nonuniform security standards, physical handling, environmental conditions, logistical information collection, and the like, are susceptible to a lowest common denominator. Conversely, checkpoints within the global supply chain have little or no information about conveyances and/or their contents that they are handling. Generally, goods are not visible as they are nested within several layers of other conveyances. An operator must rely on information written directly on the conveyance, or log-in to a central database. Thus, checkpoints are not able to automatically discern certain conditions about conveyances. Nor are shippers or consignees able to easily send or receive updates on conveyance conditions from checkpoints.
Therefore, what is needed is a robust monitoring system capable of monitoring conveyances and/or their contents across heterogeneous monitoring systems. There is also a need to control the processing of conveyances and/or their contents while present in the heterogeneous monitoring system.